Rise of the Hollow King
by NeonZangetsu
Summary: When the Kyuubi was sealed into Naruto, something changed. EVERYTHING changed. The villages thought the biju were mere masses of chakra; weapons to be used as the they saw fit. They thought the bijuu were beasts, that they had no will; that they could be controlled, tamed. They were wrong. Sometimes, weapons, have a will all their own. Dark NarutoxHarem! Bleach crossover!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Aaaaaaaargh! The site is going berserk, deleting all of my favorite stories! That being said, I wrote this story to make up for all the ones I've lost to the site. I hope you like it! Seriously though, go to my profile, use the link, and sign the petition! The fate of our most favorite stories (as well as my own) rest in your capable hands! Take note, this story leans strongly toward the idea that Kyuubi (alongside the other bijuu) was in fact a massively powerful hollow, not a huge construct of chakra as everyone in the Narutoverse suspects. Soooo...what happens when the container of said hollow discovers his legacy and a host of other secrets contained within the Scroll of Sealing?**

** You can pretty much guess the rest.**

_"I'm the strongest!"_

_~Grimmjow._

**Rise of the Hollow King**

For the Hokage it was business as usual, and that meant paperwork; loads and loads of paperwork. There was a veritable mountain of it on his desk; an endless tide of paper threatening to devour him at any moment, a tide that simply refused to be stemmed. It was inexorable. Inescapable. Inhospitable. It was the bane of every Kage's existence, and no one, not the Shodaime, nor the Nidaime, or even Yondaimehimself, had devised a tactic to defeat it, this, the most hellish of opponents.

Not to mention damned annoying!

On a day such as this, a cool autumn afternoon, Sarutobi Hiruzen would gladly haved welcomed a distraction, no matter what might be. An enemy attack. An invasion by Iwa, or Kumo, perhaps. Anything! Anything at all! So long as it distanced him from his damned office and this damnable paperwork!

He was going regret that wish.

A muffled thump echoed just outside his office. It might've been nothing; just his imagination, an overactice, overcautious, senile mind, inventing some manner of distraction to distance himself from his desk. However, years of experience, a long and storied career as a shinobi, demanded action on his part.

Some instinct bid Sarutobi to depress the lever hidden beneath his desk; thereby opening the secret compartment containing the Scroll of Sealing. Only yesterday it had been stolen by Konoha's number knuckleheaded ninja. The Prince of Pranks, a terrible trickster who, in the past, made not only fools of the Anbu, but of Sarutobi himself. His name was as Uzumaki Naruto, student of the academy, a hopeless prankster with little to no shinobi talent whatsoever.

And now the fool had played them all for fools; because it was gone.

_Gone._

The Scroll of Sealing was gone. Vanished, really. In place of it lay a wooden log, the varying scratches and notches suggesting maligning its frame suggesting it had been used it for target practice. Quite recently in fact. _Wait._ The longer Sarutobi looked upon the log, the more certain he became. Even as looked on its surface seemed to shimmer, the battered stump fading away before his very eyes, stripped of its genjutsu by the seals in his office.

Revealed was the same log in essence, lacking the dents and cuts of its former guise. Now the log looked as though it had been through hell and back; hurled through fire and flame, lashed at every conceivable angle by countless blades, soaked, then subsuquently frozen. Mangled beyond belief, it stared back at Sarutobi, silently accusing him of his incompetence, damning him for all he'd done; all he'd failed to do.

This day had been a long time in coming. He'd seen it on the horizon at the day of the boy's birth, the day the demon was sealed into his stomach. Today, this afternoon, the eve of the Yondaime's death and the boy's fourteenth birthday_...the time had finally come._ He should have known. Should have prepared himself from the moment the Scroll of Sealing was found missing. There were so many things he should have done, so much that he'd failed to do.

It was almost laughable, really.

Perhaps, in his own way, he'd been punishing the boy all along. For taking Minato and Kushina away. For allowing that..._thing_ to be reborn into the world. He didn't blame the boy for being the beast's jailor, any more than he blamed the sun for setting.

Sarutobi felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle slightly as chakra filled the air, two hands were at war with them, the first happy to have any distraction that could get him out of his paperwork, the second because few ever dared _shunshin_ directly into his office. Quickly the elderly leader sorted his paperwork and steepled his fingers before his chin to give the impression he'd known they were coming all along.

"You may as well come in." He spoke to the silence. "Or would you deny an old man his last wish?"

Nothing in this lifetime or the next could have prepared him for what came through that door.

The wooden frames splintered on a sudden, revealing the carnage in the hallway beyond. A mess of shinobi lay dead at his doorstep, their throats cut, the carpet stained red with their lifeblood. Each of them had been killed in a similair fashion; clean, neat and swift. As he looked into the eyes of the man who murdered them, he couldn't help, but feel a touch of dread. The murderer in question was coated in flame yet untouched; the orange-yellow coat glazing off his skin like a thing alive. At first glance he mistook all of it for chakra but no; there was too much of it, even for that of a demon container.

Chakra didn't roil over you like a wave. Chakra didn't threaten to pin you to the floor at the slightest provocation. This wasn't chakra. This was...this was something else. Like a god leering down at an ant; such was the difference in power. Belatedly, Sarutobi realized his mistake. Something had gone wrong here. Terribly, horribly wrong. It was no mere outpouring of energy that alarmed Sarutobi, rather, it was the boy himself.

Because there was a hole in he boy's chest.

A perfect, circular orifice, as though someone had reached in and neatly carved out his heart, leavingonly a gaping emptiness. And yet the boy still drew breath. His very being his very _anatomy_ demanded that he _be dead,_ and yet, he defiantly lived on in spite of death itself. Was this a trick? A genjutsu? No. The seals in this room prevented any such petty deception. This was real. Terrifiyingly, horrifically, real.

The longer he looked, the more certain Hiruzen became.

A strange piece of bone alighted upon the right side of the boy's face, lingering upon his cheek in a ghastly grimace. It wasn't so much that he'd been injured, rather the piece of bone lay glued atop the skin; strangely reminscent of a jaw several sizes too small for the musculature of his cheek. He entered the office with but a single step, sparing not so much as a glance for those he'd slain. Idly, Hiruzen's eyes fell to the weapon that had done the dastardly deed; the blade clutched within the boy's fist. It bore a pure white scabbard, jagged tsubasa and colorful red/black hiltwrap, each of which, was soaked in blood.

If the tower was this bad...

...Sarutobi didn't even want to _think_ how many lay silent in the streets.

The boy shifted then, riveting Sarutobi to the spot.

"You lied to me, _jiji."_ He accused. "You told me I didn't have any parents. That I was an orphan." He swung his palm backwards in contempt, a charred palm beckoning toward all the Jounin, Chunin, not to mention Anbu, he'd murdered on his way up the tower, none of whom had uttered so much as a whisper, before their untimely end. "They lied to me, too. All of them." There was no emotion to be found in his words, no sentiment; it was as though they were discussing the weather. "Right until the very end."

He turned then, idly contemplating his handiwork, presenting the Sandaime with a full view of his profile.

Sarutobi felt a wave of fear as he recognized that form, the flames giving it the appearance of a demon rising up from hell. He took in blond hair, blue eyes, whiskered cheeks, clad in the tattered remains of a hideous orange jumpsuit. His eyes were narrowed, slits of violet fury. And there, strapped to his back bound by a thick cord, was the Scroll of Sealing, in all its glory.

Hiruzen knew he shouldn't speak; knew he shouldn't risk the wrath of the entity standing before him, but he had to know.

"Naruto?"

The boy bristled.

"Naruto is dead!" He shrieked, eyes welling with hate. "He died the day you passed that damned rule!" The invisible weight intensified, pressing down on Sarutobi's shoulders with all the force of a thunderbolt. He fought to force himself upright, to keep his hands pressed against the desk, and failed utterly. His face became intimate wit the wood in a way no shinobi desired, the ornate desk shattering as his body crashed _through it_ and to the floor.

Pain bloomed like a flower across his body; blossoming from his aching hip to his spine, spreading across his body in an angry tide of red.

"The day you put that fox in me, I was as good as dead!"

"The Yondaime could not allow the Kyuubi to escape!" Hiruzen snapped back. "To do so would have destroyed the village!"

The blond scowled, his face a rictus of fury.

"Is that so, _jiji?"_

An overpowering sensation of pressure bore down upon him like an invisible hand. He sensed something enormous nearby, silent in the dark, like a giant passing within arms reach. A gravid deadly prescence too huge to grant him notice. He glanced up and grimaced, fingertips pressed against his temples. A droplet of blood fell from his nose. Was this it for him, then? Was this how it all would end? At the hands of the boy whose life he'd been entrusted to protect?

"Do you have any idea what you _bastards_ put inside me?" Naruto seethed from above him. "Do you have any idea what you made me, what I've become?" When Hiruzen tried and failed to answer, the boy laughed; it was a harsh, lonely cry of bitterness. "You don't, do you! You had no idea!"Before the Sandaime could stop him, before he could even cry out, the former student reached across the ruins of his desk and snatched a letter opener.

"Let me show you!"

"Naruto, don't!"

_Too late._

The boy traced the slim edge across his own wrist, drawing not blood, but sparks instead. Sarutboi experience both relief and shame, followed by complete and utter confusion compounding the former and the latter. Relief, that the boy had taken the knife not to throat as he suspected he might. Shame, in realizing that he was relieved; relieved that he wasn't going to die, that his throat hadn't been slit alongside the others. Deep down, he wanted to live. That desire to live, the constant yearning to exist, was superceeded only by one question.

Why wasn't the boy bleeding?

Naruto's expression told all.

"I cannot be cut." He explained morosely, gazing at the faint scratch in his palm. "I cannot be killed. My very existence extinguishes the lives of those around me. Even so you had no way of knowing. Neither did I." A grimace of self-castigation. "I didn't have a clue...even when Mizuki-sensei told me about the scroll, that I could pass if I managed to master a single jutsu from it. And then I thought to myself, why stop at one? Why not two? Or three? Maybe four? I thought to myself, hey, why not learn as many as I can _if_ I can?" And I learned, all right." His gazed darkened. "I learned what you were keeping from me, all this time!"

"Naruto, please, try to understand." Even now, under the worst of circumstances, Sarutobi remained confident in his ability to reason with the boy. "If it were known you were the son of the Yondaime, his enemies would-

Naruto wasn't having any of it.

"Naruto's not here!" The boy roared, driving a sandaled heel into the Sandaime's spine for silence. "Naruto is dead!" Now, Hiruzen would've been lying if he said the blow was harmless. As it was, he nearly spasmed in agony. Calming himself, he continued. "Even so, I thought about returning the scroll. I thought about taking this to you demanding an answer begging on my hands and kness for an explanation. Can you believe that!" He chuckled, running a hand across his neck. "Aaaand then Mizuki-sensei slit my throat, takes the scroll, and, whaddya know, it turns out he was just using me, like everyone else!"

There was a silence.

"Do you know how painful it is to have you throat cut?" Naruto whispered conspirationally. "To watch your life bleed out between your fingertips? To have a madman laughing over your corpse, carving you up, mocking you, calling you a demon?" His words dropped to a hiss. "Turns out, he's right. And my demon, well, he, didn't take kindly to dying like that. Neither did I. So I made a deal with my demon. Save me, I said. Bring me back to life, give me the strength to kill this guy, and I'll make him pay." He gestured with an empty hand. "He neglected to mention what he really was; just what I would be brought back _as." _Rage twisted his features. "Now I'm stuck like this! Look at me! I'm even more of a freak than I was before! I've got this...this _thing_ stuck on my face!" He twisted the bone fragment on his cheek, gestured to his chest for emphasis. "I've got a _hole_ in my chest! There's no way I'll ever become Hokage now! And don't even get me started on Sakura!"

"I'm sorry." said Sarutobi.

_"Huh?"_

"I'm sorry for what's happened to you, Naruto." His right eye swollen shut, the Sandaime struggled to meet the genin's gaze. "I'm sorry things turned ou this way. "I'm sorry we never told you. I'm so, very sorry." For a moment, just a moment, the rage slipped from his features. Beneath it all; all the anger, all the fury, was a fifteen year old boy, hopelessly lost, suffering, and very much alone. And then it was gone, that brief glimpse of humanity smothered, beneath the fire and fury that first compelled this massacre.

_"Sorry?"_ Nauto hissed. "Sorry? I've got a monster inside me! Its a part of me now,_ speaking to me!_ I'm not even human anymore! Don't tell me you're sorry! It's tooo late, for sorry! Iruka-sensei is _dead!_ Sakura thinks I'm a _demon!_ The only other decent individual who _might_ give two-shits about me happents to be the eldest daughter of a clan with a major stick up its pompous ass! And in case you've failed to notice, I just _murdered _more than a dozen shinobi!" His words left him gasping for breath.

"No." The boy-turned-arrancar shook his head. "It's too late for apologies."

Sarutobi felt nothing but shame.

"Do what you will." He inclined his head. "I ask only that you spare the village."

"..."

"Too much to ask, I suppose." Sarutobi acquescied at the boy's silence.

"You deserve to die." Naruto sighed and moved his hand across to the _katana _at his waist, gripping the pommel and sliding it slowly, noiselessly, out of its scabbard. A jagged line of ruby energy swelled from the tapered tip as he drew the blade. "All of you deserve to die." With that, he brought the blade down and ended the life of the Sandaime. It was a swift, painless death, stabbed through the heart. Better than he deserved. Than any of them deserved.

Absently, Naruto removed the blade and began to clean it of blood. His mind was already leagues away from here, it only remained for his body to do the same. He turned his back on the cooling body of the Sandaime and descended the way he had come, calmly traverssing the hallway filled with bloody bodies before trapsing across an equally slick stairwell that would eventually lead him out of the Hokage tower.

They should have told him. From the very beginning, They should've told him the truth of his lineage. Instead they'd kept it from him, hoarded the knowledge, watched as he suffered, and done nothing to prevent it from happening. They, the council, the villagers, and of course, the old man himself, were all to blame. He wanted to burn the village to the ground, to dance in the ashes, but a lingering thought stayed his hand.

However fleeting it may have been, he had been shown kindness here. His chest ached, the hole where his heart once was, throbbing dully. A part of him wanted to seek her out; this shy girl who could never meet his gaze without blushing, who tented her fingers, who grew faint whenever he drew near. He'd been dense_-horrifically so_-before this, before his awakening, before he became what he was meant to be.

The clouds swallowed the sun as he stepped out of the tower, moving from darkness unto darkness. His human memories were already fading with the sunlight into obscurity, and_-gladly-_he let them slip through his fingertips. All save one. He clung to that memory, even as he elevated himself from the streets he'd once called home, uncaring as an unbelieving squad of Konoha shinobi made for the tower to report the success of their mission, blissfully unaware of the catastrophe that had taken place within its walls.

Their cries of dismay-of mourning-fell on deaf ears as he reached his destination. Gradually, he became aware of the incessant fluttering of his rags. He'd need a new outfit to complete his new look, but such wants were immaterial to him now. He felt calm, knowing that he'd done what he'd come here to do. He was still angry of course, but even an emotion such as anger was quick to fade in the wake of his new purpose. He also became aware of the demon's voice in his ears as he made his way down through the skyline as well, urging him onward.

**"Just destroy them all and be done with it!"**

Naruto shook his head.

"I refuse."

**"Why!"** It demanded.

"Because she was the only one who showed me true kindness."

**"Coward."** The fox mocked him, its sardonic laugh riocheting in the darkest recesses of his mind.** "Even after what you've become, you still can't bring yourself to kill an innocent."** Once, Naruto might have risen to the taunt, might've snapped back. Now, he just frowned.

"Her day will come." He meant as an ultimatum, instead the words emerged as a small, doomed wish, rather than a threat. "It will come."

**"Great. Now get going before a shinigami comes after us!"**

He reached a hand out, touching the dark air with a fingertip. Black energy erupted from either side of the horizon before it roared open as a _garganta _before him. He sighed and looked into the blackness of the portal, knowing that he was only one step closer to where he belonged. He only needed to traverse the path between dimensions and he was there, away from the oppressive memories that consumed his earthly existence. He sighed once and gripped tightly his sword; the weapon just as much a part of him as he was it.

He looked back for a moment, no word passing between him and the Stone Faces, the cold air of the _garganta _slinking out and around his ankles. What did he feel now, as he gazed upon the faces of the four kage? Regret for leaving her behind? Anger for his betrayal, his death, his rebirth? He wasn't sure what he felt anymore, only that he needed to cling tightly to this one memory, this one image, untainted by hatred.

He stepped into the open _garganta._

He knew the truth of what he was now. An arrancar. He knew where he belonged. Where his kind could flourish. Thrive, even. Perhaps he'd find what he sought there. Peace. Solace. Friends. Comrades. Allies. Perhaps more than that. He had no idea what he was looking for; only that he wouldn't find it in Konoha. He stood there, one foot in his old life, the other in the new. For an instant, he thought he saw movement at the edges of the Hyuuga Compound, the barest flicker in his peripheal vision.

**"You fool!"**

His eyes widened, marginally.

Not because he saw the lavender-eyed hime staring up at him leagues below; but because he'd detected a flash of silver descending toward his head. Naruto raised an arm as it fell toward him and blade struck, spraying sparks between him and his opponent. His attacker succeeded only in shredding what little remained of his right sleeve before his fingers drew taut and swung about, contemptuously deflecting another strike.

His opponent was a barrel-chested young man with steely grey eyes, clad in black robes. His hair was as long as it was dark, the raven black locks trailing behind him even as he completed his revolution. Beyond that, Naruto cared little for the man's appearance, only that his arm had been lightly singed in the attack.

**"I told you!"** Kurama hissed in his ear. **"I told you to leave but noooo! You just had to stay and admire the scenery! Now we've got a shinigami to deal with!"**

"What business do you have here, arrancar!" as if on cue, the shinigami demanded, brandishing his zanpakuto. "I, Shigekuni Yamamoto Genryusai, will vanquish you, here and now!" Naruto's gaze fixated upon the flaming blade, the weapon was a veritable geyser of flame. A faint smile pulled at his lips as he raised a hand, index finger thrust outward in defiance of his attacker's flaming zanpakuto.

"My name is of little importance to me, shinigami." he drawled, mildly amused to see the man's eyes fly wide with surprise as an orange swell of light roared forward from his fingertip and drilled into the Stone Faces. "But I'll give you the honor of knowing it all the same." Even as Yamamoto vanished, even as a quick burst of shunpo carried him to safety, Nauto was there to greet him with the flat of his sword, striking the shinigami in the neck with enough force to render him unconcsious, but not before he'd the chance to hear his attacker's name, to remember it forevermore.

"My name is...Kurama."

_**"HEY!"**_

The angry roar of the _garganta_ drowned out whatever else his petulant tenant might have said.

"Farewell." Naruto murmurred as he Yamamoto plummeted to the ground, as he stepped into oblivion. "Shinigami."

He paid no heed to the one watching him below, nay, he failed to even notice her prescence. He'd evaluated his strength, defaced Konoha for the final time, and now he was about to take his leave of this rechid village for years to come. Years that would pass as centuries in one realm, but would always be perceived of as little more than the flow of time in another. Hinata Hyuuga watched her beloved dissappear, and for years to come, would struggled to understand what she'd just witnessed.

"Naruto-kun...

With that, the boy-turned-god turned his back on the world of the living and vanished into the black portal, its teeth clamping shut harshly as it melded back into a clear blue sky.

**A/N: Yeah, this is kind of dark. Naruto found quite a few things in that scroll, the like of which will be explained in the next chapter and so on. Can you really blame him for not returning the scroll, though? All that knowledge at his fingertips and they actually expected him to just up and return it after learning only a mere kage bunshin? Its like handing someone a bar of solid GOLD, telling them how much money they could make with it, only to demand that they return it. Would you? I know I wouldn't. **

**And yes, we did get a glimpse of Yamamoto in his youth! That's how early this is in the Bleach timeline. This little meeting will have great significance down the road!**

**Next time: Naruto in Hueco Muendo! The beginnings of a hollow empire!**

**R&R! =D**


	2. Return of the King

**A/N: Aaaaaaaargh! The site is going berserk, deleting all of my favorite stories! That being said, I wrote this story to make up for all the ones I've lost to the site. I hope you like it! Seriously though, go to my profile, use the link, and sign the petition! The fate of our most favorite stories (as well as my own) rest in your capable hands! Take note, this story leans strongly toward the idea that Kyuubi (alongside the other bijuu) was in fact a massively powerful hollow, not a huge construct of chakra as everyone in the Narutoverse suspects. Soooo...what happens when the container of said hollow discovers his legacy and a host of other secrets contained within the Scroll of Sealing?**

** You can pretty much guess the rest.**

_"There can only be one king in Hueco Muendo!"_

_~Barragan._

**Return of the King**

Hueco Muendo was dark.

This was Naruto's first thought as he stepped out of the _garganta_ and into the hollow world. Dark and cold. It was a stark departure from the vibrant world of the living, lacking any sort of vegetation or civilization, an utter wasteland held captive by wind and sand. The dull ache in his chest eased somewhat as the _garganta_ snapped shut behind him; the black teeth melding into the dark horizon once more, completely cutting off all avenues of escape. Not that he wanted to escape, mind you. He was perfectly content here, content to wittle away the rest of his days in Hueco Muendo. He'd known from the outset that the hollow world would be like nothing he'd ever seen before.

He just wasn't expecting it to be so_...desolate._

A lonely crescent moon hung overhead, the sole sign of luminance in the otherwise blackened realm. There was nothing for miles around; a hallowed stretch of sand sprawling as far as the eye could see. No buildings, no homes, nothing. No one came to greet him; none heralded the arrancar's arrival. There were no trumpets to celebrate his coming, no fanfare. A hollow lizard skittered past his foot, spared him a speculative glance, and began to burrow beneath the sand, uncaring of his prescence.

Naruto raised his hand and flexed his fingers. Curled them around the hilt of his sword, but refused to draw the weapon. It was only when the rage faded that Naruto took a few deep breaths and, visibly struggling, tore his hand from his zanpakutou. He swore he heard a faint wail of dissapointment from deep within the blade.

_Damn._

Even this forsaken world refused to validate his existence.

Part of him, a small part_-a part that grew increasingly smaller with each passing moment-_wanted all that and more. When nothing came he chalked it up as another human expectation, and began to walk. He knew not where he was going, only that he had somewhere to be, and loafing around wasn't going to do him any good. He saw what looked like a castle in the distance; a set of silver spires stretching toward the moon. Might as well investigate. Eventually he lost track of time, the continued length of his stride the only indication he was making any progress at all. He knew he could easily traverse the distance with _sonido,_ the hollow equivalent to the shinigami's flash-step, but some instinct_-whether his own or that of the fox he knew not-_bid him press onward.

He was tempted to expand his senses with _pesquisa_, and yet again, some unknown instinct stayed the fledgling's hand. His transformation into an arrancar had been a painful one indeed, and he was the wiser for it. No longer the spry little imp he'd once been, he now stood several head taller, leaving him towering at nearly six feet tall. Formerly malnourished, his body had acquired a bit of muscle as well; forcing his toned stomach to peek through the orange rags of his battered jumpsuit.

The tattered cloth would hold for now, but he needed a new outfit, and soon.

And then he saw it.

Before him lay a massive mountain of hollows, dead ones, piled atop one another and left to rot. Stretching toward the moon with their broken faces and shattered limbs; straining for the horizon with figners that would never again know the eternal curse that was life. Huddled at the base of one of the many mounds an unlikely pair huddled together for warmth. Wrapped in tattered cloaks, their faces obscured, they offered no reply as he approached, sandals clicking softly against the sands. Who were they? Shinigami? Hollow? Arrancar? It was impossible to tell with his six senses muddled as they were. He'd only recognized Yamamoto as a shinigami because Kurama had been the one to identify him.

**"Be careful, kit."** Kurama's warning resonated in his mind.

Speak of the devil!

Naruto bit back an oath as the monster inside him continued to speak.

**"They're strong." **The fox hissed.** "Nowhere near your level, but the big one could put you in a lot of pain...**

_"I'll keep that in mind."_

He'd play it by ear, then.

"Impressive." Naruto called out, hoping to draw their attention.

Silence reigned supreme.

There were two of them, as he'd suspected. The first was a man, his hair dark and matted. Whatever remnant of his mask there was, it couldn't be seen from here. The smaller of the pair, female, was shorter than the first, lime green locks lofting around a heart-shaped face, eclipsed by a horned cap of bone. One the horns was broken, roughly three inches from the tip. She nudged her companion as Naruto drew close, sticking both elbows into his waist.

"Starrk," She murmured, her words meant for the ears of her companion alone. "I don't like this guy." A pity Naruto had such sharp hearing. Repressing a grimace, he stared at their backs, struggling to find the words to say. Public speaking had never been his strong suit; even less now, with most of his emotions dulled to the point of non-exstence. Still he felt the need to speak somehow; an intense desire to better understand this enigmatic pair crouched before him.

"Did you two kill them all?" He asked at last, breaking the impasse. "These mountain of hollows?"

"We didn't kill them." The first, Starrk, answered. "They just went and died."

Naruto blinked.

_They just died?_

He shook his head, banishing the thought.

"I see."

The man turned then, idly regarding his fellow arrancar with a steely grey iris.

"You...you're strong, aren't you?"

"I wonder about that." Naruto couldn't help but smile. Yes, he was strong. It wasn't something he was proud of, though. His very prescence, had already extinguished countless lives in the streets of Konoha; those who lacked the fortitude to stand against him being among the first to perish. These two...they were different. The girl was actively ignoring him. As for Starrk himself, there was no fear to be felt in his gaze. If anything the man looked_...bored?_ Incredulity threatened to overwhelm Naruto for a brief moment, threatened another of his violent outbursts. How dare he!

His face reflecting none of the inner turmoil he felt, the blond contented himself to a nod.

"I'm searching for nakama." He began.

"What a coincidence." Starrk replied, flatly. "So are we." Interest, however faint, gleamed in his eyes now. "Are these allies of yours strong, too?"

"Actually, you're the first one I've encountered." Naruto admitted sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "I'm...not from these parts."

Starrk arched an eyebrow, at that. He turned, pinnioning the boy with a gaze, searching. Naruto met his gaze, refusing to back down even as the elder arrancar looked on. He must've found whatever he was looking for; because he nodded, the motion so brief it was almost imperceptible. He swatted a bit of sand from his cloak, exposing the bare forearm beneath the cowl. His partner shifted imperceptibly closer to him; drawing the cloak closer about herself, her lone, violet iris never leaving her companion's face.

"Alright, then."

**!**

Starrk stood suddenly, his partner exclaiming sharply at his unexpected decision.

"St-Starrk!" She hissed, struggling to her feet. "You can't be serious! We can't trust this guy!"

"Be quiet, Lillenette." Starrk drawled, gently swatting her skull cap, before returning his gaze to Naruto.

"Looks like you, at least, won't die from being around us." He extended his hand from the folds of his cloak, on a sudden, expectant. Belatedly, Naruto recognized the gesture. Shifting his blade to the opposite hand, he reached out and clasped the wrist of his fellow arrancar and shook. The full weight of Starrk's reaitsu, crashed down around his shoulders in the next instant. It felt like a hurricane, sharp and swift, yet at the same time slow, almost lethargic. Naruto grinned, gritting his teeth against the sudden strain, and retaliated with his own spiritual pressure. He felt a modicum of respect for his newfound ally, but even so that did precious little to dull his own satisfaction when the stoic arrancar flinched beneath the weight of his superior reiryoku.

"And you are?" There was the faintest touch of awe_-or was it fear-_when next he spoke.

"Uzumaki-" Naruto caught himself at the last instant. "Kurama."

**"Why must you steal _my_ name!" **the fox protested loudly within Naruto's mind. **"Use your own, damnit!"**

_"What would you have me use?" _Though he was reluctant to admit it, the beast had a point. He was loathe to use his old name, but he certainly couldn't go on using the fox's title forever, now, could he? He considered searching the Scroll of Sealing for a proper name, but no, that was just silly. Who knew what else lay within its depths? He'd have to look through it later, but for now, the legendar scroll was utterly useless in finding a new surname for himself.

_"I can't come up with anything."_ He admitted to the fox, abashed._ "I'll have to make do with yours, for now."_

**"No, you don't!" **His tenant sulked, sullenly.** "Make something up! JUST STOP USING MY NAME!"**

_"Fine!"_ The former genin snapped back with a mental outburst all his own._ "Now, will you please be quiet!"_

Naruto frowned as returned his attention outward, focusing once more on his new allies. Starrk was looking at him with a strange, quizzical expression. Lillenette looked to be torn somewhere between sheer reverence and outright disbelief. And he couldn't understand why. Until a moment ago, they'd treated him as any other arrancar. Now...

"Did you say_...Kurama?"_ Starrk asked, quietly.

"I did." Against his better judgement, despite the horror in Starrk's voice, Naruto reaffirmed the temporary name_-the Kyuubi's name-_he'd given himself. It was a mistake. Starrk's expression slackened, Lillenette's eyes flew wide; each arrancar offering a strangled exclamation in response.

"Oi...Starrk...he's kidding, right?"

**"Now you've gone and done it!"** Kyuubi hissed. **"Do you know _why_ I didn't want you to use my name?"**

_"Something about you being a vasto lorde before you were sealed by the First Hokage, right?"_

**"Give the kit a prize!"** Malice palpated from the seal in waves. **"That's exacty right! I _am_ a vasto lorde! One that ruled over Hueco Muendo with an iron claw years before the shinigami ever came to be! Do you have any idea of the sheer _magnitude_ you've just invoked by using _my_ name amongst these peasants?"**

_"Somehow, I get the feeling you're going to tell me."_

**"You're damn right I am!" **The hollow fox roared, its words resounding beyond its cage.** "They think you're me!" **If looks could kill, Uzumaki Naruto would surely have perished a second time, such was the baleful glare leveled by his tenant.** "An arrancarified version of my self, the greatest vasto lorde, to ever grace this world with his existence! And don't believe the lies that insepient fool Barragan might tell you! Because they are just that! LIES! I ruled this realm when he was a mere gillian!"**

_"Barragan?"_

**"We're not talking about him!"**

_"So...what the hell do you want me to do?"_

**"That's just it!" **Kyuubi lamented, his words bitter and harsh.** "There's nothing you can do! My word is law! I won't have you tarnish my reputation! You have to perpetuate the facade!" **Whatever else the nine-tails might have said was cut off as Stark seized Naruto's hand, gripping it firmly. Naruto nearly lashed out, such was his surprise. Thankfully the arracar released him, pressing that very same fist into the sand. He said nothing, Naruto did, so alarmed was he, so dumbfounded by this sudden revelation.

"I-I never thought we'd meet again, Kurama-sama." Before Naruto could speak; before he could protest, before he could tell the arrancar that he was not, in fact, the former ruler of Hueco Muendo, the arrancar took to a knee and _knelt_ before him, his head inclined in a gesture of utter subservience. "You may not remember me as I am now, my lord, but I, that is _we,"_ And here he stole a glance at Lillenete, "Owe you our lives. Please, forgive me for my earlier insubourdination, for failing to recognize your reiatsu."

_My lord?_

It was all Naruto could do not to gawp.

_Owe you our lives?_

Seriously?

_"What the hell's going on here!" _he demanded of the fox. "Why is he swearing his loyalty to me all of a sudden!"

**"I may have spared a lowly adjuchas, once."** Kyuubi admitted, offering the mental equivalent of a shrug.** "How peckish of me."**

_"Now you tell me this!"_

**"Silence! I didn't expect that adjuchas to make it to vasto lorde, let alone a _separate_ its soul into two arrancar in my abscence!" **Pride wormed its way through the kitsune's disdain, undermining its wrath and earlier irritation at the deception**. "I was right to spare him, after all! They'll make fine minions, the both of them!" **For the first time since he'd become an arrancar, Naruto was flabbergasted. He'd already secured Starrk's loyalty, now, the hollow was swearing an oath to him; because he thought Naruto was someone he wasn't.

_"I thought you wanted me to stop using your name!" _the blond growled.

**"I changed my mind!"**

"You woud fight for me?" Naruto asked, realizing too late; he'd spoken the words aloud.

"It would be a privilege to fight alongside you, Kurama-sama." Stark bowed.

**"On that we can agree!"** Kyuubi cackled; it was a deep, throaty sound. **"Now, to deal with that Barragan! I'm sure he's claimed my throne for himself by now. No matter! That impudent whelp will bow before my might, as shall every hollow in this realm!"**

_"You scare me sometimes, you know that?"_

**"I'm a hollow!"** Came the sardonic snicker.** "It's what we do! Now, get on with it!"**

_"Grrr...fine!"_

"Rise." Naruto commaded, his gaze stormy. Starrk did as he was told. Naruto clasped his hand as he rose, pulling the shorter arrancar to his feet.

"I don't believe you've told me who you are, yet." Naruto pointed out.

"Coyote Starrk." The man released his hand as he introduced himself, gesturing thereafter to his companion. "Oh, and this is Lillenette Gingerback." For a dreadful moment the girl refused to speak, cheeks darkening in the furious fires of shame and indignation. Starrk nudged her forward, toward Naruto, and her blush took on an entirely different hue. Her cheeks brightened, flushing a faint, eager red. It was kinda cute, really. Were it not for the whole master-servant bit, he might've glommed her right then and there.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lillenette." Naruto put on his most winning smile.

...'llo." the girl replied quietly.

**"Stop right there!"**

_"Oh, what is it now?"_

**"I refuse to allow your weakness be passed onto my subourdinates!"**

_**"Your** subourdinates?" _Naruto exclaimed aghast, his eyes narrowing on the pair of arrancar._ "There's only the two of them!"_

**"Size matters not!" **Kyuubi recited the age old adage.** "Now, repeat after me...**

**"What?"**

**"Fool!" **Kyuubi spat, every syllable dripping with venom.** "Say as I say!"**

_"I..._

**...have no choice in the matter!"** Kurama snapped back. **"Now, SPEAK!"**

"Coyote Starrk." Naruto began harshly, his words dropping to a commanding bark as he recited the words given to him by Kurama. "Lillenette Gingerback! Hear me! I call upon the debt each of you owe me. You will be my sword, and my shield. In turn, I shall grant each of you the honor of fighting at my side; of aiding me in the restoration of my empire! You are but the first of many; the first to rally to a cause that will number in all the millions of hollows who roam this land! And when our numbers swell beyond the boundraries of Hueco Muendo, we will wage war upon the living world, upon the chosen few who oppress us; _upon the shinigami!"_

Naruto knew it as soon as he'd spoken; he'd inspired them. Starrk's eyes shone with renewed confidence, Lillenette's, with boundless courage. Kurama was right about one thing. This was the beginning. The beginning of something big. His thoughts were no longer focused on his former life; not with his failures. First, he would carve a niche for himself in the inhospitable world of Hueco Muendo. Next, he would ensure that this realm was never taken from him, ever again. Then, and only then, would he have time to sort these feelings out, to make sense of this image, of the one he cared for the most.

**"Nicely done!"**

_"You think so?"_

**"Now, you just need to find yourself a few mates, carve out a nice little harem of willing women, and...**

_"Oi oi oi OI!" _Naruto, still human enough to recognize the implications of Kyuubi's words, swiftly derailed that train of thought before it could consume him._ "There'll be plenty of time for that later!"_

"Where should we begin, Kurama-sama?" Starrk asked.

Kurama grinned, and Naruto with him, eager to attend to anything but the matter at hand. He turned his gaze to the south and opened his Pesquisa wide. His senses expanded, taking in every drop of reiryoku, reaitsu, anything and everything worthy of mention. _There!_ The second largest reaitsu, eclipsed Starrk's and surpassed only by his own. Naruto grinned anew; a gorgeous white streak in the dark. Kurama fed him memories of him and his rechid ability; the traitor, the usurper, the defiler. The one who rotted all who came near, all who dared oppose him. Barragan Luisenbarn.

_The soon to be ex-ruler of Hueco Muendo._

"For my return to be a success, for all hollowkind to flourish, we must first dethrone the false king."

Deep within his cage, Kurama couldn't help but smile at the work of his jailor-turned-protoge.

He was one step closer to his goal.

**A/N: Yeah, did I fail to mention Kurama(in this story) once ruled Hueco Muendo? Granted he's been gone for a long time and in that time others have usurped his throne but that's about to change and in a big way! Remember, this will tie in with the Bleach storyline down the road, as in very soon. First Naruto/Kurama has to go about reclaiming his throne, proving to all hollows that big bad BOSS is back! We'll also see young Yamamoto again pretty soon, he's not done just yet! One can only wonder how the jinchuurki and other biju will integrate into this story...**

**Next time: Down with the King! Confronting The God of Hueco Muendo!**

**R&R! =D**


	3. Down with the King

**A/N: And oooooon we go! The slew of updates continue! I'm seriously on a roll here! That being said, I apologize if some of the chapters themselves are short. My new job has me working from afternoon till midnight, so I really have precious little time to make these as lengthy as I'd like. Next chapter will be longer than this one, but no less noteworthy of your praise. Now,without any further adue...**

**...I give you the next chapter!**

_"A king must be willing to make sacrifices."_

_~Halibel._

**Down with the King!**

"Slow down, Starrk!"

Coyote Starrk ground to a halt, forcing Naruto to do the same, though not without a glower back at his companions.

Lillenette took the advantage of the brief respite to close the distance between them, her pale cheeks flushed with exertion. Upon doing so, she promptly grabbed hold of her companion's cloak, fingers clenched tight to prevent him from escaping a second time. "Don't leave me behind!" she admonished, prompting a grimace from the former. He hadn't meant to leave her at the back of their little parade but he'd no choice; because he wasn't the one setting the pace.

"We need to keep moving." Naruto insisted his gaze fixated on the horizon, on what looked like a set of iron spires in the distance. Starrk bit back a sigh. Their new boss was proving to be quite the slavedriver. Already, they'd traverssed half the distance of Hueco Muendo without food or rest. Starrk was only just now beginning to grow weary, Lillenette had exhausted her reserves long ago. Naruto setting a grueling pace, pausing only to consume the occasional hollow passerby. When pressed as to why an _arrancar_ would devour hollows, when he himself had no fear of regressing, the blond gruffly replied he was 'ridding this world of the weak.' Starrk couldn't fault him for that. Here in Hueco Muendo, the rule of Darwinism applied; the strong thrived and the weak died. He was beginning to wonder why they'd ignored that panther adjuchas though...

"Starrk!" Naruto announced, his exasperation slashing through the arrancar's reverie. "We're heading out!"

_Damnit, already?_

But he let none of that irritation show as he pulled himself to his feet. He dare not. This man was his master. His lord and liege. To defy him was to die and while Starrk strongly suspected the blond of retaining some of his human emotions, he'd no doubt that his fellow arrancar would strike him down in an _instant_ if he inconvenienced him in any way.

"Understood."

Although Starrk was ostensibly in the lead, he found himself struggling to keep up with the blond-haired king. Naruto, he'd often noted since the arrancar's arrival, never did anything in moderation. The severe young man was a bundle of suppressed energy, a tornado imprisoned in the boy of a human being. Naruto rarely sat when he could pace, walked when he could run, spoke when he could shout. It would have been a worthy character trait in some people. But in Naruto it was something to be wary of, perhaps even feared.

And then there was the matter of his reaitsu.

It hung over their heads like a haze; invisible, yet potent. Omnipotent. Registering as little more than a faint buzz, at least to him. Starrk spared a glance for Lillenette, idly wondering why his normally defiant partner had taken so well to their new companion. Granted, this _was_ Kurama-sama and they _did_ owe him their lives, but even blind loyalty had its limits. That and it wasn't like her to just accept something like this without so much as putting a word in edgewise or a tantrum, or...or...well, something!

Lillenette shared none of Starrk's appreciation for Naruto's strength; she was far too focused on her own misgivings. Was this guy really Kurama-sama? The great fox one who saved their lives before they'd separated, the mighty being to whom she owed her very existence? Lillenette wasn't entirely certain he was. Her memory of the incident remained foggy at best, but she clearly remembered the fox as having red eyes. Not these eerie orbs that reminded her of a sunny afternoon one moment, winter skies the next Beyond that and his massive reiatsu, he was as green as they came.

Starrk _looked_ more the warrior. His dark cloak was far better kept than the tattered rags his master wore. Beneath that, Starrk was disturbingly well muscled, yet not enough to make his strength readily apparent. With this he was blessed with a grace remarkable in a man of his build, and humility befitting one of his stature. His hair was cut even more severely than Naruto's own, and his eyes could reflect just as coldly. Nevertheless Lillenette couldn't help but think of Naruto/Kurama as the more dangerous man.

Which was exactly why she wasn't prepared for him to sweep her off her feet. Because the hollow god did just that, abruptly stooping to her level, effortlessly slinging an arm around the fraccion's waist, eliciting a small 'eep' from his charge as he hurled her upright; tossing her onto his shoulder as effortlessly as one would their child. She flopped around for a moment, struggling to secure a handhold against that hard plane of his back and shoulders. The guy was made out of solid muscle! You have any idea how hard it is to get a grip on a surface like that?

"W-W-W-What the hell do you think you're doing!" she sputtered, latching onto his jacket with both hands, lest she fall.

"Hold tight." Was all he said before the dull thud of _sonido_ reached her ears.

_Sonova bitch!_

The dunes through which they would have been forced to push past vanished beneath her feet; parting like the sea as they exceeded the speed of sound. Lillenette nearly fell from his back, before managing to secure a proper handold, her fingers digging into the blonde's shoulder as the landscape blurred by in a sea of black and white and grey. She cast a glance about for Starrk found him matching the blonde's pace perfectly. Within an instant, even that was gone. The world receded around them, taking sight and sound with it as the trio of arrancar vanished.

And then it was done.

A broken bell rang out its hollow tone beyond the hillock. Below the bell, lay a throne, and in that throne, clad in robes of darkened violet and purple, sat a skeleton. A crown decorated its head, its four points gleaming sinisterly under the light of the moon. Dozens upon dozens of hollows knelt before him, refusing to so much as meet his gaze; unwilling to even approach the staircase upon whose precipiece he sat. Lillenette balked at the distance in which they'd travelled in such a short time.

"When did...how did...

"I take it that's Barragan." Naruto mused, ignoring his dumbfounded passenger.

Starrk nodded.

"I trust you have a plan for dealing with his temporal ability?"

"A plan?" Naruto asked, blinking at the mention of such a thing.

"You _do_ have one, don't you?"

The hollow god did not immediately honour him with a response. Instead, he frowned. Those blood red eyes flickered; narrowed, as they surveyed the palace below. If such a sparse dwelling could be called such. Within a heartbeat however, he reached a consensus. The former jinchuuriki tittered softly to himself a small smile blooming on his lips as unsheathed his zanpakuto, tugging the blade free from its alabaster sheathe. Pressure roared across the dunes as that sparse smile blossomed into a full fledged earsplitting grin. A grin Starrk knew all too well.

"Lillenette," He began slowly, "You'd better get-

_"Wah!"_

His companion _yelped,_ losing her place on the blonde's shouder as Naruto flung himself forward with an exultant laught. Almost before Starrk could think to blink, hollows began to die. Naruto simply waded into the fray simply swung his blade, and a quarter of Barragan's army ceased to exist. Lillenette pulled herself upright with a small groan, absently dusting off her cloak, still in the midst of digesting their master's unexpected act of departure and violence.

"Was he always this crazy?" She gawped with eyes wide, mouth open in a round O as the arrancar singlehandedly dispatched his opponents. _Clearly_ he didn't need nor want their help but Starrk couldn't bring himself to stand idly by as the man to whom he owed his life fought against overwhelming odds. Such a pain. And here he'd thought they wouldn't have to fight anymore tonight...

"Might as well get down there and help him." Starrk sighed, his reaitsu flaring, sword flying free from its sheathe. Lillenette sweatdropped before mimicing his effort, drawing forth a curved scimitar from her left horn. If she was even able to kill a single hollow before Naruto was finished, she'd be lucky. Reluctantly, she followed him, wincing as the sounds of battle joined them. Shouts and screams greeted their ears, as they joined the conflict; apparently Barrgan's forces weren't taking this unexpected attack all that well.

"Unforigiveable!" cried an irate adjuchas, mere moments before Starrk's slash separated its head from its neck.

"Finish them off!" shrieked another, rushing forward, only to find itself severed; its body halved by the curved edge of Lillenette's scimitar. The pair hacked and slashed and stabbed and sliced their way toward Nauto, in their hearts knowing_-what little was left of them-_that this was a temporary measure. They'd yet to face the true threat. Barragan had yet to take the field, had yet to unleash his hellish powers. Despite this Kurama was pushing toward him in leaps and bounds, utterly uncaring for whomever stood in his way.

_"Wait."_

All eyes turned as the skeletal emperor spoke, his voice crashing down around them like a peal of thunder.

"Wait." The skeleton rumbled. "This is the perfect thing to kill some time." He rose from his throne, brandishing a fearsome axe, looked as though it were carved from shadow itself. "I will be your opponent, you meager ants." Naruto stepped forward in reply, denying his opponent the honour of crossing blades with him. "However, allow me to welcome you to my castle, Las Noches. Naruto arched an eyebrow, as his companions moved to stand beside him, each soaked in blood, none of it their own.

_Las Noches?_

"Interesting." It was all he could do to keep the scorn from his voice. "You call this place with no roof and no walls a castle?"

"I don't need a roof." Barragan snorted in derision. "I am the king. All the sky over Hueco Muendo is my castle."

**"Arrogant as ever, I see." **Kurama quipped.

Naruto couldn't help it, then. He laughed aloud; long and loud and hard. Mirth tore its way out of him, fleeing his form in the guise of joyful tears and demented laughter. Beside him Starrk shifted, unacustomed to such an uncharecteristic outburst. Finally the demigod quieted, his laughter trickling away in the form of a bemused sigh. The sky was his roof? What a bunch of bullshit! A castle needed walls! It needed a roof! Staffed by all loyal soliders, willing to fight, willing to die, in the name of their king! Oh, hollows here _knelt_ before Barragan, not out of any real subservience, but rather, fear. Doubtless they had been cowed by fear of death. And the fool dared to claim them as his loyal subourdinates? They were more like slaves!

"I see you're still a fool, apprendiz!"

"Who are you?" Barragan's skull could not form the neccessary expression to properly convey his words, but they rang with the dull undertone of confusion nonetheless. "Who are you, to speak to me in such a way?" A small thorn of pride stuck in Starrk's chest at the accusation, but if his liege felt anything, he did little to let it show.

"So you're the king of Hueco Muendo, now, are you?" Naruto scoffed, continuing on. "Although, I wouldn't call this much of a kingdom."

_"I am the king of Hueco Muendo! I am the ruler of this world! This kingdom! You wll speak to me as such!"_

Naruto grinned.

"I see you don't remember me. Such a pity." His eyes flickered, sapphire flaring into scintilating scarlet. "To think, a worm like you would usurp my throne, would take what is rightfully mine." And still, there was no response forthcoming from the great god of Hueco Muendo, "Still don't remember me? Such a sham. Allow me to refresh your memory!" Starrk couldn't help but shiver as Naruto's reaitsu shot upwards, manifesting to the shock and awe of all hollowkind, gaining physical form shape and likeness, that of a laughing fox thrusting itself into exsistence over their heads.

Great red eyes gazed down at them, past them, through them, drilling into Barragan with the fury of a thousand lifetimes. Even witnessing it for the second time in this life, Starrk couldn't help but be awed by it, even as Lillenette's own shock and horror trickled through their mutual bond. This was their master's power. Power so great that even the supposed "god" of Hueco Muendo couldn't help but quail before it. Couldn't help but to recognize it; this terrible, awful power ebbing off the blond, a veritable wave of malcontent.

"It's ironic, king of Hueco Muendo." Naruto seethed. "To have someone of your calibre, sitting upon _my_ throne."

"Y-You!" The skeleton emperor sputtered with fury. "No! This cannot be!" He raised a trembling finger, the bone white digit thrust accusingly at the demigod before him. "You!" He shrieked, voice rising. "You were dead! I know it! I saw it!

"It doesn't matter what you say." Naruto dismissed his words with the wave of a hand. "I'm here to reclaim what's mine. To end your existence, if need be."

"There is no existence greater than I!" Barragan roared for his minions! "Go! Crush these insolent ants and their leader!"

_"Starrk."_

Naruto had but to speak the arrancar's name, and the army perished.

They simply ceased to exist, felled by the sheer weight of his companions spiritual pressure. Barragan was left alone on his throne, sneering down at the one from whom he'd stolen everyone and everything, come back from the dead to take it all back again.

"I will deal with you myself!" The hollow god hissed. "You should be honored to be killed by the king of Hueco Muendo!"

"My word is absolute." Naruto replied stonily, advancing as his companion fell back. "Kneel before me or perish where you stand, Barragan Luisenbarn!"

"My _power_ is the only thing in this world that is absolute!" Barragan roared, bringing his axe to bear. "Everything pales in comparison before it! Even you! Now, lament your insolence and turn to dust!" Before Starrk or Lillenette could hope to interfere, the self-proclaimed god brought the massive weapon crashing down on the blonde's head. _Hard._ Naruto raised a palm, uncaring for the brutal axe bearing down on his skull. With but a flick of the wrist, he wrenched the weapon away from the grim reaper; taking with it most of the vasto lorde's right arm.

And yet the blonde's body did not decay; because he was not slowed in the slightest.

"How is this possible?" Barragan staggered backwards, clutching at his ruined limb. "I have supreme power! Everything should be under my control! That should be the way of this world!" _Kurama_ leered back at him out of the eyes of his host, reveling in every instant of fear his former subject felt. He brandished the stolen weapon in hand, appraising its size, its, weight. Grasping its shaft he returned it to the emperor, its cleaving edge slicing through the air as though it weight not an ounce, slashing down at the hollow god's cranium.

"Did you know, _apprendiz?"_ Kurama remarked casually as he struck the king's crown, severing it neatly down the middle. "You cannot age what is alread ageless. You cannot, for example hope to extinguish the mightiy powers of the wind. My power." He grinned as he discarding the axe, embedding it in the sand at his back. That was it, then. Starrk realized this as he beheld he subtle shroud engulfing his liege. Air currents swirled off his form, spitting and hissing, stirring the sands as their master lashed out once more.

Aghast, the gread "god" stumbled backward, this time bereft of his remaining arm.

"I'd like you to look at my sword, apprendiz." Naruto remarked coolly as the steel sizzled into a sinister scarlet. "Remember its name, carve it into the depths of your soul."

"You ant!" Barragan roared as the boy swept his sword forward, its tapered tip straining toward the sky. "You cannot! You shall not! I will not allow you to-

_**"Rise." **_Naruto intoned, tracing his finger across the blade's edge, a wellspring of blood springing forth from the wound.

_**"El diablo."**_

Barragan's last sight was that of an unholy red tide, rushing forth to devour him and then...

_...nothingness._

**A/N: Yeah, did I fail to mention Kurama(in this story) once ruled Hueco Muendo? Granted he's been gone for a long time and in that time others have usurped his throne but that's about to change and in a big way! Remember, this will tie in with the Bleach storyline down the road, as in very soon. First Naruto/Kurama has to go about reclaiming his throne, proving to all hollows that big bad BOSS is back! We'll also see young Yamamoto again pretty soon, he's not done just yet! One can only wonder how the jinchuurki and other biju will integrate into this story...**

**Next time: A King must have his Queen! TTia Halibel, the Goddess of Hueco Muendo!**

**R&R! =D**


	4. A King must have his Queens

**A/N: Yo! Here's the next update as promised! At last! You get to meet the first member for the hollow king's HAREM! Others will be added later (some later than others) but it is with pleasure that I introduce two of the most beautiful arrancar Hueco Muendo has ever known...NELIEL AND HALIBEL! And for those of you who might be wondering Naruto's transformation into an arrancar while permanent, hasn't exactly stolen away all of his human emotions. He might be older now, but beneath all that, he still has his fauls...as you're about to see in this chapter.**

**Now! On with the chapter!**

_"A king must be kind to his subjects."_

_~Neliel Tu Oderschvank._

**A King must have his Queens**

Starrk couldn't help but tremble as Naruto released his zanpakuto. _As Barragan screamed._ His first and last sight of the hollow king's release state was that of an unholy red tide; a great geyser of black and crimson the like of which he'd never seen. It swallowed Barragan whole, cutting him to pieces; before the usurper had the honour of seeing the true form of Hueco Muendo's _true_ ruler. Starrk, however, and Lillenette with him, were not so fortunate in that regard. The arrancar felt, rather than heard his companion's hoarse cry before the _reiryoku_ reared its ugly head.

An overpowering sensation of pressure bore down upon him like an invisible hand. He sensed something enormous nearby, silent in the dark, like a giant passing within arms reach. A gravid deadly prescence too huge to grant her notice. He glanced to Lillenete and saw her grimace, fingertips pressed against her temples. A droplet of blood fell from her nose.

"Starrk...

Acting on instinct and insinct alone, he reached for his other half-

The reiatsu roared over them, accompanied by the sound of tearing flesh and the snapping of bones, and then_...silence._ Lillenette whimpered. Starrk froze, his hand half-outstretched toward her. Whatever fate had befallen Barragan, would it be theirs as well? He waited for an attack, for his liege to accuse them of cowardice and wipe both him and Lillenette from the face of the afterlife. It never came. His only reward was his owen relief as his armsclosed around his charge. Instead of an attack, there was only an eerie...

_...nothingness._

Starrk peered into the red haze surrounding their master, trying to discern shapes from within the unholy fog. He immediately came to regret that decision as something stirred within that dread mist. It wasn't large exactly, but then again, neither was it small. Whatever it was, it put the fear of death back in him, a man long since dead.

**"So _this_ is what it feels like."** Kurama's voice rumbled softly. **"To release my true power, after so long...**

Nine tails lashed against the sand; deep, crimson eyes glared through the gloom. Laughter, dark and exultant, tore through the night.

The fog faded...

...just in time for that _thing_ to reseal itself into a sword.

Gone were his tattered orange rags.

His _ressureccion, _though sealed, had endowed Nauto with the flowing uniform of most arrancar, parting around the chest, exposing the hole where his heart should have been. There was only one problem. Voluminous sleeves obscurred his hands and arms, arms that hung loose at his side as he swept through the sands towards them, and like the rest of his they were an eerie red. The color of blood. Not so muh stained as bleached Starrk surmised, as his liege padded toward them. Bare feet were no longer so, clad in black-toed socks and silver sandals, the latter being the sole exception to his flamboyant crimson attire.

"My lord?" Starrk asked the transformed figure.

"Yes, Starrk?"

"Are you...alright?"

"Oh, I'm better than alright." The blond licked his lips.** "I'm fucking fantastic."**

Starrk froze.

"He was right about one thing." The hollow king remarked, eyes shimmering with visceral delight. "This _is_ a wonderful weapon."

Froze, as their leader stepped forth from the mist, brandishing Barragan's axe as if it were his own. The once mighty cleaver seemed to have shrunk, its massive shaft gripped by fingers of flesh, instead of bone. It was almost as though his reiryoku itself were the only thing keeping the weapon from vanishing without the prescence of its master. As if he'd ripped out a piece of Barragan's soul_-of his power-_and made it his own. Indeed, such a thing could be said of their leader, as Lillenette gave a small cry of disbelief.

"Starrk," she whispered, pointing at the blond. "Look...

There, hidden within the folds of his sleeves, they could be seen: golden bangles, reminscent of the ones Barragan had worn in death, though made much smaller to accomodate their new host. Their lord even bore the same garrish necklace as the usurper. His eyes blazed a hateful crimson, however, hinting at the intense displeasure lurking just beyond those orbs. Though he might not look it, Naruto was furious. His reaitsu flared in a sudden gout, threatening to flatten whomever dared to oppose him.

"The usurper is dead, slain at my hands." He spoke to the few hollow he'd spared, gesturing to his new form. "His power lives on in me, but not his weakness." With a flick of his wrist, that dread axe thrust itself upon the body of the nearest adjuchas, bifurcating the beast as effortlessly as one would a piece of butter. But that wasn't the end of it. To Starrk's horror and disbelief, the hollow began to _decay._ Even as the body toppled forward struggling for its last breath, the severed halves were rotting, falling to the ravages of time, gone before the corpse could even touch the ground. The blond watched as the last remnants of the mask dissolved in utter silence, uncaring as the hollow's feeble cries turned to whispers; as its death rattle filled the air.

Lillenette squeaked at the sight and hugged him tightly. Showing none of the fear he felt, the arrancar held her tight, bid his self be silent, and willed himself to look on.

Apparently satisfied with his new weapon the returned king levered his axe forward in unspoken challenge. Baleful red eyes blandly observed the dozen or remaining hollow, contemplating them as though they were a single, unthinking organism, a fat sow to be lead to slaughter. Starrk shuddered at his master's detachment. How one could so easily alternate between fierce fury and uncaring apathy was beyond him. He'd butchered a defenseless opponent just now, merely on a whim. He was indeed a worthy ruler however, for as fierce and fickle as he might be, Kurama was no bloodthirsty beast. Nor was he some mindless monster: who thought he could rule the dunes through sheer force: who slaughtered upon sight alone. His boughts of mercy_-of kindness-_infrequent though they were, served a purpose.

fighting force.

When none dared rise, a small smile tugged at the lips of Starrk's liege filling everyone, ally and enemy alike, with complete and utter dread.

"My throne is reclaimed." he said at last, speaking to those who remained. "Who remains to challenge me?"

"H-How dare you!" A tiger-like adjuchas hissed. "You have no right to claim Barragan-sama's throne!" Backed by five other adjuchas, he stood his ground, despite the fact that he'd just witnessed the brutal death of the master whose honor he sought to protect. Starrk almost pitied the fools, even as those demented red eyes whipped around to glare bloody red daggers at each of them. Almost, but not quite. Of the five all but the tiger cringed back beneath his insidious smile.

"I beg your pardon?" Naruto asked softly, as though the very _thought_ of challening his rule was treason itself.

"I said you have no right!" The sabertooth tiger adjuchas rasped out. "You _dare_ to-

Anything else he might've said was drowned out beneath the king's sudden laughter.

_**"Oh, I dare."**_

The remnants of Barragan's army abruptly found themsevles forced to their knees, forced into subservience by the sheer weight of the king's spiritual pressure, all form of resistance subsuquently driven from them and their bodies. Starrk cringed, a muscle jumping in his jaw as he pulled Lillenette deeper into his chest. Did the depth of his lord's power know no bounds? The sand itself turned to glass beneath his feet, splintering upon the weight of the energies being forced upon it. At last, it relented.

Bemused by their valiant_-albeit futile-_attempt at resistance, Naruto laid the axe to rest against his back, tethering the fearsome weapon there with sheer force of will alone. He approached the quintet of warriors in silence careful to reign in the full might of his reaitsu-lest he accidentally crush them where they stand.

"Your names." The king demanded of them, his gaze flickering over each of the hollow.

"Ggio Vega." Amber eyes blazing beneath its mask, the tiger adjuchas introduced itself as the de-facto leader of the group.

"Choe Neng Poww." A massive gillian easily ten times the size of the former, whimpered in fear.

"Charlotte Chuhlhourne." Another, floral adjuchas introduced itself.

"Abirama Redder." An eagle-like hollow raised its wings proudly.

"Findor Carias." As the latter lowered it wings, a crab snipped its pincers, indicating its own self.

"Nirgge Parduoc." The massive mastodon hollow was the last to introduce himself.

Naruto took them each in turn, casually appraising his new subourdinates. For a moment, Starrk thought he was going to devour them on the spot.

"Is there a problem, gentlemen?" he asked, cheerily. "You act as though you've never seen another hollow feed before."

"You...you devoured Barragan-sama?" Ggio asked.

"I did." came the answer. "Is there a problem?"

Whereas once the adjcuhas would have defied him, now she knew better. She hung her head in subservience even as

"You should have made him your ally." Nirgge mumbled.

Starrk's eyes flickered over to Naruto. To the untrained eye, the _king _did not react at all to the information of Barrgan's death. He looked as though he hadn't even heard a thing Nirgge had said. But Starrk knew Naruto fairly well, and he could see the blue-eyed emperor's jaw clenching through his full, whiskered cheeks.

And when he spoke, it was with a venom that silenced the entire desert.

"Did I ask for your opinion," he began softly, "Nirgge?"

The tusked adjuchas immediately recognized what his lord was getting at. Nirgge stood rigid against the pillar as he stared in forced silence at the oter arrancar. Naruto glared forward calmly, almost causing Starrk and Lillenette to wince; the adjuchas was in serious trouble and the rest of the room wasn't about to spring to his defense. Naruto didn't care what the answer was, only that it gave him an excuse.

"Did I ask for your word?"

"You did not, my lord."

"Then why are you still speaking?"

"My lord, I meant no disrespect, I—" Nirgge began when Naruto's zanpakuto plunged deep into his chest, pinning him against the pillar. Blood began to spill out of his parted lips as his eyes bulged in terror. Naruto was already standing in front of him, his hand gripping the crimson hilt of the _katana _and forcing it deeper through flesh. Nirgge stuttered in agonized disbelief as the tappered tip drank deep of his blood, leaving him a dried and withered husk, a shadow of his former self. It was as if the blade had sucked out his very soul, what little remained of it. The corpse Niirgge had become rasped out a single, choking gasp, eyes already growing dim and vacant as it reached a trembling hoof toward its killer.

"M-My lord...

"I have no need for those who would oppose me."

Nauto glared down at Nirgge for a moment longer before he smashed his fist into the adjuchas's face, subsuquently obliterating the hollow's upper torso; pulling his blade out as Nirgge's lower halve slumped forward off the pillar and landed on the floor. Abirama and Findor quivered beside him, their eyes glittering with fear. The rest of the hollows remained silent as Naruto flicked blood off of his zanpakuto, and sheathed it. He laughed softly to himself; it was a small, tittering chuckle, more a sigh than an actul breath.

"Is there anyone else who would dare oppose me?" he asked the crowd of hollow. "No? In that case-

He might have spoken a tad too soon Starrk realized, as a crushing weight settled upon their shoulders. As one the trio of arrancar turned, curiously regarding the sudden source of spiritual pressure. What they found a half-second later set their senses screaming in a warning. Danger! At least, Starrk's mind screamed this as he witnessed the one responsible for the abrupt surge of reiryoku.

She was beautiful, for a hollow.

She was a near-humanoid shark-like Vasto Lorde-class Menos, almost human in appearence. Well endowed, curved in all the right places but most of her body and face remained covered by white hollow-bones, leading up to the massive white blade encompasing the length of her right arm at the elbow. Her hair and eyes were, however, exposed, and stern jade irises bored into them pinnioning the remnants of Barrgan's forces with a gaze. Starrk shivered at the sight of er._ A vasto lorde._ Such reaitsu was bound to attract the attention of Hueco Muendo's more secretive element. They should've expected as much. Though he was a former vasto lorde himself Starrk still couldn't quite shake off his unnease as she wafted past.

Without so much as a backward glance she began to walk past the two of him, ignoring he and Lillenette as though they were but mere grains of sand in the storm. In truth, she simply didn't care for them. Rather, she was focused on bigger prey. She approached Naruto wordlessly, riveted upon him, upon his very existence. If their liege felt any fear as she approched, he certainly did little to show it. He gave her an appraising glance and she him. Nothing more. The whiskered blond opened his mouth to break the impasse of slience, to shatter the tension between them-

"W-Wait!"

The vasto lorde paused, curiously regarding the one who had spoken. Lillenette.

"Have you some business with me, little one?" Her words, though muffled behind her scarmask, were dark and husky. _Dangerous._ Starrk instinctively moved to shield her, as the vasto lorde turned her attention toward his companion. Starrk's other half fretted nervously beneath the vasto's stare, clutching at his hand like a little girl. And still the vasto approached. She came to a halt within three feet of them, jaded orbs slightly larger than before, filled with recognition.

"Starrk?" she asked, wide-eyed. "Is that you?"

The arrancar visibly deflated.

"Long time no see, Tia."

"It's been awhile, hasn't it?" Her eyes crinkled in the smallest of smiles, and he was almost certain she wore a smile behind the mask. "You look...well."

They'd been partners once, before their separation. Before Starrk ripped his mask off and went his own way in search of companions. In search of the hollow that spared his life. His insistence on finding and serving the hollow king had been a sticky point in the uneasy truce they'd made. Halibel had wanted nothing to do with him after that once he'd expressed his desire to serve the great hollow responsible for his continued existence and the idea of spliting his soul in two. Halibel disagreed. She would serve no one, she argued, unless they proved their strengthto her. Their separation had been...unpleasant. Compared to that, the agonizing proccess of severing his soul was little more than a pinprick in the ocean of life.

"She is...yours, then?" The blond nodded almost imperceptibly in the direction Lillenette. The latter, having regained her courage, stuck out her tongue in blatant defiance of their old friend. The arrancar nodded, slowly, his emotions carefully hidden behind a mask of apathy. Halibel seemed to cringe beneath the burden of his affirmation.

"I...I see." She said, faltering over her own words. "I was unaware of your success. Of your...alliance." Her gaze drifted back to the whiskered arrancar, who until this moment, had been content to observe their reunion in silence. But no longer. Even as her gaze drifted in his direction the hollow god was striding forward to meet her, leaving their new companions to stand at attention in the distance, his blue eyes glittering with interest as he disappeared and reappeared in a sudden buzz of sonido.

"Friend of yours?" He asked, his anger apparently forgotten in the wake of their new arrival.

"This is Tia Halibel, Kurama-sama." Starrk introduced them. "She was an ally of mine, if you recall."

_'Was she?'_ Naruto asked Kurama.

**"Hmmm...possibly. I don't recall her being a vasto lorde at the time, however." **The old fox practically salivated.** "Or being this well endowed. Oh, I've got an _idea." _**Naruto almost guffawed, almost broke his pristine image of her perfect calm. He turned and faced the fox completely in his mind; Kurama was trying to screw with him now, and he was doing a very good job. His smile widened, red eyes aglow with mischief and mirth. His host had the succinct sensation of something stirring in his chest. An age old emotion, one he'd yet to experience during his brief tenure as an arrancar. _Hold on. _Was the old boy actually suggesting-

**"She'd be the perfect addition to your harem!"**

Right on the money.

_'Has it occured to you that I don't have one yet?' _Naruto mentally frowned back.

**"But she'd be perfect!"** Kyuubi practically begged, pressing its snout agains the bars of its cage. **"C'mon kit! Do it for me! Just this once! Rip off her mask and make her an arrancar!"**

'Wha-HELL NO!

"You are...Kurama?" Halibel glanced at him askance. Hastily, Naruto recovered himself.

"Yes."

"You are not what I expected."

At that, he grined.

"Neither did Barragan."

Halibel tilted her head to one side.

"You defeated Barragan?" At Naruto's smile, she shook her head. "No. I can still sense his reiatsu within your soul. You devoured him, didn't you?"

Naruto shrugged.

"Is there a problem here, Tia Halibel?"

The vasto lorde appraised him a moment longer before she raised her blade.

"Such a pity, king of Hueco Muendo."

"Hmm?"

"With Barragan dead_**...you've entered the shark's domain."**_

**"Uh-oh."**

_'Wait...what is-_

Kurama's eye went wide as his right arm was severed from his body, the limb now falling away from him in a flash. The gloved fingers were wriggling slightly as the nerve endings within them struggled to receive signal from his brain once more, dropping the sword that they once held as his hand groped on blindly. Kurama lunged forward, his left arm stretched out in an attempt to grab and wield the fallen blade.

_'Thanks for the distraction!'_

**"Not my fault!"** Kurama snapped back.** "You're the one who-_ah, shit_**_."_

Tia Halibel buzzed into view, her lithe body blocking the Arrancar's weapon, her jade eyes glaring out coldly from abov the frightening grin of her mask. With a hiss she swung her blade backwards, a golden cero leaping _rocketing_ out from the tip of her sword and incinerating the arrancar's arm within the bright energy. But not his sword. Nauto had successfully retrieved the fallen weapon and now brought it around in a succesfful block even as her wide sword screamed down at his head.

Instead of striking flesh she struck steel, sparks splaying between the two crossed blades as they warred against one another, vasto lorde and arrancar, battling for dominance. But the arrancar was without a limb. Tia Halibel held no such disadvantage. A wide cero leapt forward from the vasto lorde's blade once more, collding with the arrancar and sending him sprawling backwards and into the sand.

"Tia, what are you doing!" Starrk exclaimed aghast, unable to believe his eyes as his master strugged to rise. "Why are you attacking him!"

"I am testing him." was the vasto lorde's reply as she buzzed after the arrancar. "If he strong, then I shall submit myself and those of my followers to his cause. If he is not then I shall devour him, as the shark does its prey." Without another word she thrust a wide cero after her fellow blond, forcing him from his perch atop a nearby pillar.

"Is that the extent of your power, arrancar?" the vasto lorde scoffed as she hefted her blood-soaked blade. "If so-

Naruto said nothing as he dropped his zanpakuto.

He merely reached down to the ruined stump of his arm, touching two fingers to where his elbow had once been. Blood flowed freely from the ravaged limb, coalescing there in a swir of crimson and, as Halibel looked in awe, human flesh. Naruto grunted as it splashed across his palm, across muscle and bone, assuming the shape of a human limb. Within mere moments his ravaged arm was restored, lacking only the sleeve it once held prior to its removal

Halibel arched an eyebrow.

"Instantaneous regeneration?" She mused aloud. "How quaint."

"You won't cut me again." Naruto replied.

"Is that so?"

Taking his words as a personal affront, the blond erupted into motion, swinging her massive blade down at his stomach. This time, Naruto did not retreat. He merely raised his blade, prepared to weather the storm at its center. Sparks fled from their blades like prey chased from its den as the two combatants collided, the ground quaking beneath their feet. North and south an east and west, Halibel struck from all these angles and more and yet she could bring herself to touch him; her blade always passing within mere millimeters of the arrancar as he effortlessly dodged or parried each one. Frustrated, the blond changed tactics. She swung low; aiming to take out his legs.

Naruto jumped, alighting atop the flat of lower blade. Even buffeted as he was by the wall of wind behind the slash, he didn't so much as bat an eyelash.

"Water." He mused softly, pushing a hand through his suddenly damp hair. "How ironic."

"You find my power amusing?"

"Considering we're in a desert, yes." he paused, casting a glance back at the empty throne. "And fighting over an empty throne."

She wanted to ask him how she knew of her grudge against Barrgan, or how he knew her power, but she didn't have the time. He'd already launched himself at her with incredible speed, the quickness of his movement surprising her; for such a lean person, he moved as though he weighed practically nothing.

Halibel blocked as the katana swung at her, her large white blade shuddering in her hand against the strike. She placed her free hand against the backside of her sword to reinforce the block, but still found herself grimacing as the dread blade began to dig itself into her defense, the white sword splintering slightly under his onslaught. She leapt away and into the air, her feet skidding to a stop along the empty night sky. She glowered down at him a moment longer before speaking.

"You are indeed strong, Kurama-sama." she spoke softly. "However, I must ask...why do you hold yourself back? Why do you let me entertain the illusion of victory?" She pressed. "If you are restraining your might merely because I am a woman, you will not have my respect, or my loyalty."

"..."

"Show me your full power." Halibel insisted. "If I deem it satisfactory, I will pledge myself to you, body and soul."

**"Ooooooh hell yess!"** Kyuubi crowed within his mind. **"Do it! Release me! Show her true fear! Then she'll be mine! Mine! All mine...erm, ours."**

"You'll only see it for a second." Naruto called up at her, his voice black as pitch. "I won't be able to ensure your survival after that."

"If that is to be my fate then so be it." Halibel reassured him, brandishing her blade on guard. "Now...come! Release your true form! Show me your true strength!"

Naruto sighed.

"Don't say I didn't warn you...

**"Don't you DARE kill her to spite me!"** Kurama howled. **"She MUST be part of our harem!"**

_'Shut up shut up shut up!'_ Naruto shouted back, cheeks burning. _"I can't concentrate with your incessant blathering!'_

With an ear-splitting hiss, he summoned the full might of his _ressurreccion._

_"Rise."_ He crooned softly, his body erupting in a cone of hellfire for the second time that night. Blazing with baleful light, a beacon of hatred and malevolence in the darkened word that was Hueco Muendo, he uttered a single phrase, forever carving its name into the depths of her still-living mind. It encompassed a world of death and destruction, of a force so unholy that the very name elicited a soft shudder in the vasto lorde. Halibel had only an instant to recognize the name before the fires faded and the beast was upon her. opened its jaws, drenching her in red light.

**_"El Diablo."_**

Halibel recognized the name_-and the cero-_all to late as it struck her, shattering her sword and carving into her flesh. And there was blood, copius amounts of blood as those claws raked across her flesh, drawing her in a strange macabre of an embrace and holding her close. Strong hands fastened around the corners of her mask, and before she could speak, before she could protest, he pulled. It all happened so fast. A littany of pain, a horrible, unending shriek that she reocgnized too late as her own, and then it was done. She felt rather than saw it splinter felt her life flash before her eyes as the grimacing facade was forcibly torn from her face, off her body, and out of her chest.

_'Sun-Sun...Apache...Mila Rose..._

The faces of her followers flitted through her mind for the scarcest of seconds before the world came back to her. She must've blacked out for she woke to strong arms holding-cradling-her against his chest. Blearily she blinked up at him, at the terror who'd struck her, only to find the last remnants of his ressurreccion fading from his form curling off his shoulders in an eerie red mist. He laid his hands against her face and only then did she realize that she could feel his hands. Feel them. Trembling, Tial Halibel hazarded a glance down at herself, at her skin, at her body. She utterly lacked the white-blue bone, of her vasto lorde form, and yet, this flesh felt stronger. So much stronger. He'd wrapped her in his cloak, but that did precious little to obscure her voluptuous form. She curled her fingers and toes experimentally idly wondering at them. No longer was her hand trapped within her blade. Her blade.

Where was her-

"I told you you'd only see it for a second." Naruto sighed as he pressed a hilt into her hands. "Are you satisfied now, Tia Halibel?" She gawped at the weapon within her hands now a hollow-edged blade. Her lips worked wordlessly as she struggled to comprehend its transformation. She wanted nothing more than to curl up against his chest, and sleep and yet, she could not. At length, she realized he was still waiting for an answer. She managed a nod, fumbling only slightly as he set herdown.

"I am...most satisfied, my lord."

Naruto grinned ferociously.

"Welcome to the family then, my queen."

**A/N: Yeah, did I fail to mention Kurama(in this story) once ruled Hueco Muendo? Granted he's been gone for a long time and in that time others have usurped his throne but that's about to change and in a big way! Remember, this will tie in with the Bleach storyline down the road, as in very soon. First Naruto/Kurama has to go about reclaiming his throne, proving to all hollows that big bad BOSS is back! We'll also see young Yamamoto again pretty soon, he's not done just yet! One can only wonder how the jinchuurki and other biju will integrate into this story...**

**Also, Naruto will EVENTUALLY attain segunda etapa. Oi, that's gonna be nuts...but whatever might his first release look like...hmmm? Will it be revealed next chapter, or shall I keep it a secret for future chapters...**

**Next time: A King must have his Queens continues! Neliel the Mistress of Hueco Muendo!**

**Here's a preview:**

_As she turned away from the broken phalanx, her hunger tugged at her again, like an eager dog straining at its leash, but she again pulled at it to heel. She had to find him first. She had to know. Everything else could wait. Everything else would wait until then._

_Naruto sighed and placed his hands upon the lower half of Neliel's mask and began to work._

_And then suddenly everything went blank._

_As soon as she shook off the sudden urge to curl up somewhere and sleep Neliel realized that something warm and soft was crawling up her limbs; she looked down and saw countless streams of light gushing from the arrancar's fingertips. Their every stroke brought solace and hope, their every withdrawal broke one's heart in many ways._

_It must've been pure spiritual essence, for nothing else could ever caress Hollow's reiatsu-hardened skin so sensually._

_Neliel wanted to drown herself in this energy; the power manifested, the eternity itself. The trickles of energy avoided touching her mask, though; they restlessly tried to slide underneath the white surface of the bone. The vasto lorde levered up the mask with her slim arms; the essence slid under the opening, soothing the sharp pain. Neliel heard somebody shout; the sudden noise echoed very close – too close – to her, destroying the blessed atmosphere of the moment._

_An inch higher. A sharp cry, a litany of indistinguishable curses._

_… ..._

_Two inches more. A wall of wails, a distinct crack of a bone._

_… ..._

_The streams of energy suddenly retreated, leaving Neliel in the middle of screaming voices. Alone._

_… !_

_And when he was about to give up, to let the mask go and make those ear-piercing noises vanish, after the last convulsive throw of his arms the mask broke and darkness engulfed everything._

_In the vasto lorde's place a pale figure swam into view. Starrk stopped and watched, waiting as their newest companion emerged. It was a woman of perhaps twenty years of age-tall, slender and beautiful with a regal bearing and skin so white that Starrk might have thought her a ghost, but for the fact that he couldn't see her hollow hole. He could also sense the woman's power. It was her reaitsu. That blanketed the sands, a warm sunspot of energy that seemed to well up from the ground like_

_A red stigmata ran parrallel to her nose, but this only heightened her beauty. Pale green hair lofted around a heart-shaped face, from which hazel eyes shone and a horned skull cap rested. Her slim, exquisite body was a sight to behold; beautiful beyond measure unrivalled in_

_There was only the slightest of stumbles when she_

_Naruto took one look at Dondochakka and Pesche...and grinned._

_"Your turn, boys."_

**R&R! =D**


	5. A King Must Have His Queens II

**A/N: Yo! Here's the next update as promised! At last! You get to meet the first member for the hollow king's HAREM! Others will be added later (some later than others) but it is with pleasure that I introduce two of the most beautiful arrancar Hueco Muendo has ever known...NELIEL AND HALIBEL! And for those of you who might be wondering Naruto's transformation into an arrancar while permanent, hasn't exactly stolen away all of his human emotions. He might be older now, but beneath all that, he still has his fauls...as you're about to see in this chapter.**

**Now! On with the chapter!**

_"A king must crush all those who oppose him!"_

_~Nnoitra Jilga._

**A King must have his Queens II**

Somewhere amidt the vast emptiness of Hueco Muendo, a lone centaur contemplated the sands. Half-human and half-horse, she was as imposing as she was beautiful. Amber eyes regarded her surroundings with eerie intent, the fingers of her left hand idly twirling a strand of teal hair behind the curved horns of her mask. Cloved feet kicked at the sand as she shifted her weight, hooves caressing the sands with a grace bespoke of an old, gentle spirit, wise beyond its years, yet tempered by centuries of violence and bloodshed.

"Not here, either..." she mumbled to herself.

For all outward appearances, the vasto lorde seemed to have been scrutinizing this spot for quite some time now, but in reality her attention was focused elsewhere. Her _pesquia_, her spirit sense, streatched across their dunes, searching for the slightest sign of spiritual pressure. There had been a great prescence here, only hours before, as mighty as the moon looming over her head. But it wasn't here now. The source, and the smaller separate sources of reiryokyu with it had vanished, heading north to an unknown destination. There were four of them now, where once there had been three. Another had joined them. A newborn _Arrancar_ if the shards of shattered porcelain and bone at her feet were to be believed. Wait...She stretched her senses out even further. There were five others...weak, barely present at the edge of her pesqia.

Adjuchas?

Only emptiness lay sprawled before her now, a vast sea nothingness stretching as far as the eye could see.

Struggling against the crushing weight of her own depression, knowing she'd failed to find the source of the spiritual pressure yet again, the vasto lorde could only hang her head and sigh in dejection. They'd been close this time. Close to finding him. So very close! Now, there was nothing left to do but return to the trail once more. Resolved to find him come hell or high water she resumed her trek across the desert, following the footprints.

A massive reaitsu had been here, mere moments before. The dark emperor's. The usurper. _Barragan? _Had he fought with the dread lord? Had he fallen to him? No. She shook her head. He was far too powerful to fall to such a foe. She had to believe that he still lived. She had to. She just _had_ to.

"Nelilel-sama?"

She was almost thankful for the mask; because it hid her tears, sheltered her sorrow. It did nothing for her tone, however; solemn at its very best.

"Dondochakka, how many times must I ask you to call me Nel?"

The figure behind her offered a deep bow."

"Once more, Neliel-sama."

She turned toward her companions, masked eyes regarding them kindly. Hueco Muendo had never seen such an unlikely trio. One was lanky as he was tall, the other, as short as he was stout. Both, regarded her utter and complete fealty. Ordinarily, a pair of mere menos, a pair of gillian no less, would have no business being with a creature like herself. With a vasto lorde. They'd met under strange circumstances and it was stranger still that they found themselves still in her service. Any other vasto lorde would've regarded them as an easy meal and devoured them within an instant.

"Are we getting close?" The smalle rof the pair asked.

Neliel nodded, running a pronged hand through her teal mane.

"We're getting closer, Pesche."

As she turned away from the broken phalanx, her hunger tugged at her again, like an eager dog straining at its leash, but she again pulled at it to heel. She had to find him first. She had to know. Everything else could wait. Everything else would wait until then. Everything would wait until he was found.

_Everything else._

* * *

As always, Naruto set a breakneck pace across the desert.

When asked what their next destination was, he would simply shake his head and smile. And he was asked quite often. There werer no stops for rest, nay, if the occasional meal could be called as such. Halibel was _just_ beginning to tire of Lillenette's constant complaining when the dread lord himself came to a sudden stop. It was only through a controlled effort, that she managed to keep from running headlong into his back. Likewise, she sensed the muffled of thre three fraccion at her rear.

"Why are we stopping, Naruto-sama?" Apache asked, moving to stand beside the two o them.

Had anyone else asked their leader such a stupid question, they would've found themselves struck down, left to bleed out on the sands of Hueco Muendo. As it were, Naruto's grin merely grew. He reached out to brush a hand through her fraccion's hair, his gloved fingers trailing across the younger woman's cheek with an infinite gentleness. Halibel quirked a golden brow at her servant's reaction. Arrancar did not blush easily, but the fierce flush rising in Apache's cheeks could not be anything else. She fingered the bracelets on either wrist nervously, fidgeting beneath his gaze.

"We'll make camp here." he announced, patting her cheek.

Naruto had granted Apache arrancar status just as he had her mistress; tearing off the deer-girl's mask to grant her human form. Precious little remained of the porcelain facade, curving upward in a single horn, jutting out above her forehead. It swung even higher at his words.

"Camp?" The blue/red eyed girl blinked in surprise,dissapointment flickering in those mismatching orbs as his hand withdrew. Clearly she'd expected them to continue. Arrancar did not make camp. They did not require physical rest as humans did. Nay, they shunned it. To sleep in Hueco Muendo was to invite death, even for an arrancar. That he was actually suggesting they _lower their guard;_ that they sleep beneath the stars tonight and come what will, was intriguing.

"Why must we rest?" Halibel thought the question, but ultimately it was another of her fraccion, Mila Rose, who gave it voice. Her dark skin stood out in sharp contrast to the other members of he group, the small tiara of bone upon her forehead serving an ever-present reminder of her brief tenure as an adjuchas. She carried herself with assurance, confident in her ability to serve if called to act. Naruto had somehow managed to find uniforms for both her _and_ her fraccion, though he refused to admit to where he'd found them. He had an...interesting fashion sense, to be certain.

"Because Naruto-sama said so." A third voice interjected, forcing Halibel to risk a glance over her shoulder once more. "We needn't ask any more."

"Urusei, Sun-Sun!" Apache growled through clenched teeth. "I didn't ask for your opinion, you-**!"**

Naruto's reaitsu quelled whatever else she might've said.

"That is enough, Apache." His voice washed over them like liquid.

"But-

**"That. Is. Enough."** His gaze cut across her like bloody red daggers, daring her to question him further. When no reply was immediately forthcoming from either fraccion, the blonde's smile grew.

"Sun-Sun." He smiled, taking a dainty, sleeved hand in his own. "What is it you were going to say?"

Whereas the others were dressed to please the eye, Sun-Sun wore a long, voluminous robe borrowing directly from Naruto' attire. Her hands remained hidden in the folds of her sleeves, the better with which to conceal her weapon of choice; a tri-pronged sai. Whether it was her weapon or attire that caused him to favor her Halibel knew not. She knew only that their leader always wore a smile at her fraccions approach; as he did now and that this irked Mila Rose and Apache to no end.

The latter cut her eyes at the smaller woman; annoyed at having Naruto's attention taken from her, at having stirred his wrath. Sun-Sun didn't seem to notice. Or care, for that matter.

"I think it wise that we rest here." She raised the other sleeve when she spoke, as she always did, obscuring her mouth. "We musn't push ourselves." Neither Apache nor MilaRose elected to argue that Naruto had been doing just that until a mere moment ago. They knew better. As did Halibel. Naruto could be strange, sometimes. At times he was strict and overbearing, and at others, he was kind and caring. Two opposite sides of the same coin, co-existing, never touching, yet always at war with one another.

"I leave it to you to make camp in our abscence." His gaze drifted past the four of them and alighted upon Stark and Lillenette, his second-in-command. It was not a question. Kurama would often venture out along like this, only to return several days later, stronger than ever before. His constant disappearances were a mystery to them, but Halibel secretly suspected all likelihood, he left them to feed; lest he run the risk of consuming them in his own hunger. Halibel knew this. Nay, she expected it. Such were the burdens of strength and leadership. But when he said _our abscence _instead of my, when he seized her by the wrist and buzzed away in all too quick a sonido Halibel didn't know what to think.

They reappeared several dunes away, still holding hands. She felt a dull ache in her chest when he released her.

"Why have you brought me here?"

"I wanted to hunt." was the answer. "With you." And then he began to walk, forcing her to follow.

"What are we hunting?"

"A vasto lorde." His lips twisted into a scowl. "I don't know who it is, but they've been following us for a number of days now."

If Halibel still had her heart, it would be thrumming in her chest.

Halibel risked a glance at her liege-lord, appraising him,. Her fellow blond was indeed handsome. She could easily see what the others saw in him. It could even be said she felt desire for him. But she was not a slave to her emotions. She never had been. They did not rule her, as they did other hollow, oh no. She ruled them. She was their mistress and these feelings of hers would obey when she so bid it! Despite this, she continued to stare, to take him in; that chiseled face, the toned body, mere glimpses beneath the thick robe he wore. He made for a strong ally at best a formidable foe at the worst. She licked her suddenly dry lips in anticipation of whatever it was he had in store-stop. Halibel shook her head, clearing herself of all emotions. Or so she thought.

He caught her staring and smiled, pearly whites flashing in the gloom. Lust tugged at her again, a defiant pup gnawing at its own leash in an effort to escape her control.

"Is there a problem, my queen?"

One could not easily detect the flush on Halibel's mocha-colored skin, but it was all too present when she snapped her gaze in the opposite direction. My queen. He'd taken to calling her that title, from the moment he'd ripped off her mask. The moment he'd freed her from her eternal hunger. Halibel owed him her fealty as promised _but for the life of her_ she could not comprehend why he insisted on using such a honorific whenever he addressed her, whenever he he spoke. It flustered her, this endearment did.

"Why do you refer to me as such?" she asked of him. "Why call me your queen?"

Naruto blinked.

"A king must have his queens." He said it as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "And you are but one of them, Halibel-hime."

_Ah._

Facts clicked together in her mind like pair of greased cogs in a machine, slowly bringing her toward understanding. Ah. Somehow, she still found herself surprised, despite his admission. After all he had done, granting even her subourdinates the gift of sanity, after transforming them into arrancar, he still adressed her as thus.

"And my companions?"

Naruto paused at that, seemed to consider it carefully before deciding.

"Concubines." He decided at last.

"And what do you intend to do with us?"

Naruto glanced at her asckance, his blue eyes suddenly soft, yet jilted.

...I'd like like to think I could have a family, someday."

Halibel couldn't quite stifle a laugh.

He was an interesting man, her master. He thought to form a family of hollows! The notion of it was absurd, and nearly drew a laugh from her breast. She paused, realizing the enormity of his words. _Children._ Her lord actually wanted children. Heirs, to the throne. Was that even possible? Could arrancar even produce children? She'd never thought of it before. She'd never been bothered to care. She found herself glancing at him. Oh yes, he was a strange man, this master of hers. She entertained the notion for a moment: mocha-skinned, blue-eyed arrancar children playing at their feet, the whole of Hueco Muendo their playground. Her daughters Apache's, Mila Rose's, even Sun-Suns. Once this world was brought to heel, it just might become a possibility. She smiled softly, a genuine smile as she raced after him. She might like that.

She might even come to love him...

_...in time._

* * *

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter of Rise of the Hollow King! It seems Aizen is swiftly running out of soldiers to recruit for his grand little army, no? Also, YIKE! Having seen Genryusai's powers and his bankai, its going to be one hell of a battle if he and Naruto ever come to blows. Also...the dude summoned zombies! FRIGGIN ZOMBIES! Did I mention I have an intense and irrational fear of all things undead? ESPECIALLY ZOMBIES!**

**R&R! =D**


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